On Duke and Hatred, Part I

This is the women's version. Tomorrow we publish the men's version, which is Part II.

I've already noted that Terps fan stuck around for Sunday's second session "just to root against Duke," as Maryland's Marissa Coleman put it with a laugh.

"I wasn't aware that College Park was such a big hot spot for Murray State fans," Duke's Abby Waner dryly noted at a press conference this afternoon. "I'm pretty sure we'll see a lot of Arizona State fans here tomorrow night."

And so the question that hovered over College Park like the scent of closing time at Bentley's was this: er, why is there so much hate for this one particular school?

"It's Duke, come on now," Maryland's Crystal Langhorne expounded. "It started with men's basketball. You know, everybody hates Duke, everyone. It's not just Maryland. Everybody does. It just festered and moved to our little program, too."

"Abby always gives me a hard time, says we aren't even their rivals," Coleman said. "She doesn't know why our fans hate them so much. Murray State was from Kentucky, and they had pretty much the whole arena rooting for them. [It's] because it's Duke. Not too many people around the country like Duke."

This festering hate, the Duke players said today, largely manifests itself in College Park and Chapel Hill, but they said they get booed pretty much everywhere they go. They also said they don't take it personally, that the booing is based on their past success and that of their male counterparts. The Duke cheerleaders responded to the boos by chanting "Not Our Rivals," which made the Blue Devils laugh, which seemed to be their primary response to the whole incident. (An incident whose pinnacle was, of course, the end-game booing, when Duke was pressing in the final minute with a huge lead.)

"It doesn't bother us at all," Wanisha Smith said. "It's actually entertaining, due to the fact that they weren't Murray State fans."

"I kind of like it, I think it's fun," added Coach Joanne McCallie. "Certainly you want women's basketball to have passion, and certainly you want people to care. Now, I realize some people express their passion in different ways, but as long as people are respectful of players' personal lives, I see nothing but extra enthusiasm that comes from it."

"It makes it fun," Maryland point guard Kristi Tolliver said, echoing McCallie. "To do the right thing would be to cheer for your team and not cheer against the other team, but that's in a perfect world, and we don't live in one. Let the fans have their fun."

As for McCallie's "Turtle IQ" comment, the coach said today that she was "having fun, kidding. I mean, we're talking about a Turtle."

The coach said she expected it to be "worse, a lot worse," tonight, when the Blue Devils meet Arizona State, and that seemed to be a consensus opinion.

"I mean, we're Duke, I think it's pretty much a given," Waner said. "There's just a whole bunch of reasons people hate Duke. It's the name on the front of the jersey. People either love 'em or hate 'em, and for the majority, there's not as much love as hate."

"This school just has a dislike for Duke," Tolliver said. "I don't have a dislike for Duke, really, but nobody from Maryland likes Duke and I don't think anyone from Duke likes Maryland. That's just how it is."

A group of reporters was giggling about such comments--especially Langhorne's--in a Comcast Center hallway this afternoon when Maryland Coach Brenda Frese walked by.

"C'mon," she said, "you guys don't like Duke either." She was joking. I think.

Yeah, it's pretty much like that. Some of us at least try to keep it resonably professional. We don't curse, we don't go after the family and we at least try to be funnt. Can't say that for all of the Terps fans but, well, who said all the Duke fans were funny either?

The Murray State fans who were there, along with the cheerleaders and the band, seemed to get a kick out of it. My group was right behind them. Good group of folks.

It's obvious that Maryland fans are jealous of Duke for the same reason they are jealous of Seth Greenberg, Michael Vick, and the mighty Hokie Nation. They resent success. I deal with my share of jealous Maryland fans every day. I can't help that I am a high powered lawyer with a smoking hot wife. Deal with it losers.

ben, i've seen your wife and obviously you the one that's smoken (be careful cause they test for bud) the tooth problem tho alright in blacksburg can be fixed by your dookie girls. their daddies are all dentists

ben, i've seen your wife and obviously you the one that's smoken (be careful cause they test for bud) the tooth problem tho alright in blacksburg can be fixed by your dookie girls. their daddies are all dentists